The Coming Storm
by Neko Phoenix Fire
Summary: AU as of Season 4. Jaden’s make-up year at Duel Academy starts off with a bang when his younger cousin Kacy arrives for her first year. But all is not well; Haou has returned, and Jaden's just about to snap... Eventual Fianceshipping and OC pairings.
1. Cousin!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, no matter how much I want to. It belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. I only own Kacy.**

"Yo, Jesse! Sy! Hassleberry!"

Jaden Yuki, 17-year-old borderline-delinquent duelist extraordinaire, ran up the outside steps to his second-story roach-infested Slifer Red dorm, humming to himself. A dark gray duffel bag was slung across his left shoulder and banged against his side every time he moved his right leg, which it did a lot if you consider what happens when you run up a staircase.

Upon closer inspection, the two-toned brunette narrowed his big light brown eyes in a wince whenever the makeshift suitcase hit a certain spot just below his ribcage - an almost-healed bruise, presumably from his battle with Duel-Spirit-gone-bad Yubel last year. In fact, it was technically Yubel's fault he'd been stuck in a variety of alternate dimensions last year as a Duel Academy senior, and was now repeating the entire year alongside his group of friends who had tagged along for the ride.

After toying with the thick combination lock on the door to his room – it had been broken into countless times already, so it was about time – Jaden opened the door to his dorm expectantly.

Syrus Truesdale and Tyranno Hassleberry looked up from their own unpacking, both grinning. Syrus, the pale-blue-haired midget, was wearing his Ra uniform that contrasted his pale gray eyes. Hassleberry, as that was what he preferred to be called, was wearing a Ra uniform as well, but his had no sleeves and he wore a gold-and-brown dinosaur bandana. It was obvious neither of them had changed, except Syrus may have grown half an inch or something.

Jesse Andersen, however, had apparently changed a great deal. Last year, even despite being stuck inside the soul of his most powerful Duel Monster for about four months, he would have jumped up and greeted Jaden enthusiastically – he was practically, and I quote, "Jaden with a Southern accent". Whereas now he was currently sitting in a chair and staring out into space with his arm propping his head up, looking very preoccupied.

"What's up?" Jaden said in that naturally energetic voice of his, dropping his bag on the bottom bunk of the three-bunk bed – his bunk by unspoken decision, ever since Year One - and waving his hand in Jesse's eyes. The Obelisk sat up very quickly, so quickly that he lost his balance and flipped/fell over the back of the chair with a loud yell of surprise that would be indecipherable unless you had a Babel Fish in your ear, letting out a muffled yelp of pain as he hit the ground and another as the chair fell on top of him with a soft THUMP.

Hassleberry laughed loudly, a barking laugh through a wide smile. The teal blunette on the floor, waving at Jaden without looking at him, grumbled, "If there wasn't a chair on me I'd slug you for that."

Jaden, helpful as always, took the hint, heaved the chair off the teen, and hauled him to his feet. "What were you thinking about?" he asked curiously.

Jesse laughed, embarrassed. "Sorry 'bout that. I… er… that is…" Lowering his voice, he said, "_Promise_ you won't laugh?"

"Promise," Jaden agreed brightly, nodding.

Jesse got back in the chair, leaning it back on two legs and clenching his hands behind his head. After a pause, he confessed, "I met a girl… and… I think I'm in love."

Hassleberry muttered savagely, "Beeping puberty."

Jaden, wearing that hopelessly dense expression of his, said cluelessly, "What's wrong with that?"

Syrus hissed pointedly, "Shut it, Jay, he's embarrassed," and looking over at Jesse asked in a hushed voice, "What's she like?"

Jesse scratched his head, eyes thoughtfully staring up at the ceiling, apparently having got over the initial embarrassment. "Well…I guess I should tell y'all what exactly happened…"

**(flashback)**

_Jesse walked casually out the front door of his two-story brick house, hands in his jean pockets. He was a little tired, having only pressed the 'snooze' button seven times this morning – approximately, as he was half-asleep and not even looking up from the pillow as he did so. _

_Looking up at his room's open window, he smiled as he saw Sapphire Pegasus laughing at a comment from Amethyst Cat, his horn flashing blue light at random intervals due to his happiness. Amethyst meowed something further and Topaz Tiger's paw whapped her lightly on the ear from out of sight, causing her to jump away from his limited range of vision with a playful yowl._

_ A movement caught in his peripheral vision and the sound of delinquent-like laughter caused him to turn his pastel green eyes to the empty one-lane street, a slight breeze stirring up and ruffling his already-messy hair. A neon red bicycle was hurtling down the bike lane at a potentially hazardous speed. The rider was a slim, medium-height girl with long dull orange hair flying out behind her. And she wasn't wearing a helmet. _

_ "FWAHAHA!" the girl cackled loud enough for him to hear, throwing her hands up in the air and confirming Jesse's suspicions that this girl was completely and utterly out of her mind._

_ Her bike began to swerve and the girl lowered her hands quickly, muttering something that probably went along the lines of 'well, this certainly stinks' if Jesse's lip-reading was up to scratch. She gained back enough control over the thing to let it crash harmlessly on the far side of the Andersen's front lawn._

_ "Stupid bike!" the girl yelled angrily, sliding out from under the thing. From this range, Jesse could see red-brown eyes flash in annoyance and teeth bared in a snarl. _

_ Jesse jogged over. "Need some help?" he asked, pointedly glancing at the bike._

_ The girl laughed and sweatdropped simultaneously, clearly aware that she sounded like a moron but also clearly not caring. "Yeah. Thanks. Heh."_

_ The pair hauled the bike over to the driveway, standing it up on the pavement. "Guess that I was going a little over the top. Thanks," she chuckled._

_ Jesse wondered if she knew that she had probably been going faster than some cars at their fastest, but chose to only say, "That's fine. Name's Jesse; what's yours?"_

_ "Kacy. Like in 'basket case'. Nice to meet you," she said calmly, bowing slightly. "Wait a minute…"_

_ She was clearly about to say something, but the lady next door leaned out the front door and called, "KACY! LUNCH!"_

_ Kacy perked, spitting out a quick farewell and pelting off while humming "Easier to Run" by Linkin Park._

_ Jesse laughed. Wild, that one was._

**(end flashback)**

"And that's pretty much it," Jesse finished, sitting back in the chair with a slight slouch. "One of the most eventful moments of my summer vacation, aside from being whacked over the head by a two-by-four that fell off my roof for some reason beyond my realm of thinking and seeing a small explosion from that girl's room – thus proving my thoughts that she is obviously a nutjob – but that's a different story."

Syrus and Hassleberry exchanged a bewildered glance at this last statement. Though the story itself hadn't been too impressive, getting 2x4'd or having your next-door neighbor setting off bombs in her spare time certainly wasn't even remotely normal. Plus, phrases like 'realm of thinking' were not commonly used in one's average dialect.

On the flip side of the coin, Jaden had an unusually thoughtful expression on his face. "That sounds just like my cousin…" the Slifer said, his brown eyes trained on the ceiling. "I could ask her if she saw you. Her name's Kacy, too. She's coming to DA this year…" – a decidedly ill-boding smirk - "and one of my best friends is in love with her! _Ha!_ This is _rich…_"

Jesse made a mental note to hang Jaden upside down from the top bunk while he was sleeping tonight.

Suddenly, a foghorn broke through the silence. The four boys yelped, springing to their feet and yelling in unison, "We're gonna miss the first years!" before piling out of the dorm…

…only to be brought to a crashing halt by a certain Chazz Princeton, causing he and Jaden to tumble down the stairs in a whirlwind of arms, legs, and screams. Jaden yelped as he hit the ground right on his bruise, wincing in pain.

"Watch it, slacker," growled Chazz, standing up and brushing himself and his black trenchcoat off angrily before stalking off in the rough direction of the docks. Unseen to everyone but Jaden, Jesse, and Chazz – the only three on the island who could see Duel spirits - the Ojama trio appeared and followed after him, chatting to each other and serving to further antagonize the black-clad Slifer.

Syrus helped Jaden up, checking to make sure he was okay before resuming their wild run, this time through the woods.

"Just like old times, huh?" Jesse remarked to Hassleberry, who shrugged hopelessly and returned, "I guess some things never change."

When the harbor came into view, Jaden skidded quickly to a halt with a noise not unlike a car applying its brakes too fast before proceeding at a considerably safer pace, not wanting to plow anyone over in the large crowd on the docks. An enormous cruise ship towered over all the students – the plane that normally delivered the new students was in for maintenance, so they used the boat normally only used for school trips.

"Hey, Zane!" Jaden said upon sighting his friend near the back of the crowd, arms crossed over his chest. Zane Truesdale was the previous king of Duel Academy, before he had graduated and passed the torch to Jaden himself.

Zane acknowledged his greeting with a short, expressionless nod of his own – his version of a cheerful hello. His companion, Alexis Rhodes, waved at Jaden before rushing over to greet her two female friends, Jasmine and Mindy, who immediately started to yammer on about nail polish and other 'girl things' that left Jaden's head spinning.

"Any particular reason you've been running?" asked Zane, noting that Jaden was panting slightly yet had strangely not broken a sweat.

Jaden nodded, still out of breath for the most part, and said through his gasps, "Can I tell you later? I'm kinda in a hurry."

Zane made an 'hm' noise, which translated from what Syrus had dubbed Zane-speak to "Fine, but you owe me an explanation."

Meanwhile, a certain teal blunette had wandered over to the middle of the crowd in his search. "Where _is_ she?" Jesse asked, looking around. Almost all the freshmen had gotten off the boat, so why hadn't he seen Kacy yet?

"Try right behind you, Jesse," said a voice flatly from – you guessed it – right behind him. Jesse jumped almost a foot, then whirled around.

Kacy Yuki was standing only a few feet away, arms folded across her torso and her red-brown eyes looking out in a sort of bored amusement that reminded him of Zane. She was wearing a male's Slifer blazer that she'd modified to fit her body shape and to not be so baggy, as well as a pair of black pants that were one size too big and had to folded over at the ankles.

Jesse stammered the first thing that came to his mind: "Did you cut your hair?"

It was true: her orange hair – which, now that he thought of it, was the exact color of the top part of Jaden's hair - was considerably shorter now, falling not to her waist but instead to her elbows. "Yep. Hacked it off with the kitchen scissors last week," Kacy said in reply, unfazed by the 'how lame was that?' look that had just popped up on the embarrassed Southerner's face.

Fortunately for him, Jaden caught sight of them and ran over, tackling the unfortunate fifteen-year-old with a hug. Kacy promptly pulled out a can of pepper spray from inside her blazer and waved it threateningly in his eyes. Syrus, who had been trailing the older sibling, gawked at the girl; Zane, who had also been following Jaden, raised an eyebrow and had to stop himself from laughing out loud.

Hassleberry appeared out of seemingly nowhere – in reality, he had been swept away by a mob of Atticus fangirls and had just now located his friends - and snorted to himself, "This is going to be one heck of a interesting year."

Little did he know how his words would come true.


	2. Author's Note

**Hey! Neko here, with a massive thank you to all who have reviewed… and I'm totally thrilled that everyone who reviewed liked it! I'd read lots of fanfiction before I got this account and never dreamed my story would be good in the eyes of those other than me and my close friends!**

**On the other hand, I would like to apologize for not updating since November. I've been out of commission as a writer due to a horrible combination of:**

**Lack of inspiration**

**Inspiration (but not for this)**

**My **_**incredibly**_** slow typing speed**

**Writer's block… T.T**

**Being grounded on and off**

**and general laziness.**

**It doesn't help that I'm actually rewriting this as I'm typing it. The original draft is incredibly lame and my writing style was laughable, so… yeah. Actually, after Chapter Two, I'm just going to utterly scrap my old plans and wing it.**

**I have about a third of a page on Word typed of Chapter Two and have hit a slight roadblock in that writer's block has attacked me again. If I had more, I would happily post a preview for you, but since I do not I will settle for saying that next chapter involves Kacy meeting Jaden's other friends and someone receiving a nasty knock on the shin.**

**Until then,**

**Neko**


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